Simms: Lions could be a Super Bowl team

Simms: Lions could be a Super Bowl team

After a 2016 season where they only did one thing well, but did it well enough to make the playoffs, it’s no wonder a lot of national pundits project the Detroit Lions to take a big step back in 2017.

Bleacher Report’s Chris Simms sees the downside, too—but he also sees the upside.

In Simms’ post on training camp storylines, he acknowledges that the Lions’ two biggest problems last year—a nonexistent run game and a nonexistent pass rush—could be almost entirely solved if tailback Ameer Abdullah and rush end Ezekiel Ansah are healthy and on their game in 2017.

Better yet, the former NFL quarterback understands just how good Detroit signal-caller Matthew Stafford has been:

“Oh, and Detroit has Matthew Stafford, who is one of the three best quarterbacks in football,” Simms wrote. “He’s almost entirely the reason why the Lions have reached the playoffs in two of the last three years.”

That’s a strong take.

Full disclosure: Simms is a former colleague, and I have great respect for his insight and opinion. When he says the Lions “could become a Super Bowl team,” I take that very seriously—and Lions Wire readers should, too.

Of course, this is the NFL. There are 32 teams, and most of them have at least a theoretical chance to contend every single year. There’s no question, though, that the Lions are fielding a better squad in 2017 than they were in 2016, and the results could very easily reflect that.

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